Author: DOuG pRATt

You Said It, Daffy!

Back in college I did a lot of hitch-hiking, usually for the 100 miles between home and campus. Hey, it was the 70’s. A high point was a ride with a beautiful, dark-haired 30-ish woman who was driving a convertible. Like a scene from a movie, she suggested another sort of a ride, but the circumstances prevented me from taking advantage of the opportunity. Regrettably, it was for the best.

Sometimes I hitch-hiked with my roommate Brad, and on one occasion we were stopped by a Massachusetts state trooper. We thought we were in trouble, but like Daffy said he was a swell guy, and he gave us a ride most of the way down the Mass Pike.

Like Daffy I have flat feet, and I wear custom orthotics in my running shoes. I’m very pleased with my new Asics Gel-Kayano 29’s. They’re much better than the 28’s although your mileage, literally, may vary.

https://www.asics.com/us/en-us/gel-kayano-29/c/aa50124290/

On YouTube there are reviews of the Kayano saying they “fit to size,” but that definitely isn’t true for me. In fact, I need to go up a full size for them to fit.

The Corner of Wall and Main

The Fed has added another quarter point to the federal funds interest rate, nudging it up towards 5.5%. This is bad news for individuals carrying variable rate debt, and those who are applying for a loan. It’s good news for me, because my retirement money is in local banks that are offering attractive CD interest rates.

This is the upside of inflation for risk-adverse retirees who are feeling the pinch of rising food prices. Finally, the financial sector isn’t skewed 100% in Wall Street’s favor and, whatta ya know, Wall Street is still doing fine.

For almost fifteen years, the easy money policy of the Fed gave Wall Street at least two advantages. First, money could be borrowed for free, tempting brokers to make risky speculative investments of the sort that contributed to the crisis of 2008. Second, there was a massive transfer of money into equities from commercial banks, because regular bank accounts paid nothing. Savings accounts are actually “losing accounts.”

The arrow in the graphic shows the last time I locked in an interest rate for my IRA CD’s. The pre-Covid rate of 2.5 percent wasn’t much, but it was a big bump up from what the rates had been, following the crisis of 2008. If the interest rate had stayed at zero, I would have given up the safety of bank CD’s for index funds. For now I can safely remain a contrarian, and a true financial conservative.

Now I Know!

Ah ha! So this is a triple play. Until Denro pointed it out, the only Triple Play I knew about was my FiOS Internet/TV/Phone plan with Verizon. He says it was only the 2nd 8-3-5 Triple Play in Major League history. Whatever that means.

https://youtu.be/d_-jKfU-mbQ

Now I need someone to explain to me what the line of scrimmage is in football. You can infer my level of interest from the fact that I don’t know. 😉

I enjoyed playing baseball as a kid. My problem was being left-handed, but taught to bat right-handed, so I was terrible at hitting a ball. When I became near-sighted in the fifth grade, I had the fear of Mom put in me about breaking my glasses, so I only wore them indoors. Which meant I couldn’t see the ball. A red playground ball I could see, and dodge ball was my game during recess in the 5th and 6th grades.

Fake Plumber at Work – 3

Whew! What a tough, all-day job this was, especially removing the old fixture and drain, but it’s done.

In my previous plumbing-related post I mentioned a tool.

Fake Plumber At Work – 2

It turned out to be a completely useless gimmick, and a total waste of $20. I went out and spent another twenty bucks on a proper plumbing tool, a basin wrench.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-1-2-in-Quick-Release-Telescoping-Basin-Wrench-80-546-111/206830601

It wasn’t easy to use, twisting myself into the cramped space under the sink, but it worked.